Dances from the Inns of Court

Booklet: Dances from the Inns of Court, London 1570-1675. By Peter and Janelle Durham. Contains

• An extensive introductory article, which discusses historical background on the Inns (providing cultural context for these dances), information about the period sources, and a discussion of the process of reconstructing these dances. Includes bibliography and discography.
• 10 Dance pages: Each page has one dance on it, with a reconstruction of the dance, period melody line, original text, specific notes about the reconstruction, and information about available recordings of the music.
• A concordance of dance descriptions: For the eight dances of the Old Measures, we have created a concordance, which puts all the different texts (6 different sources for most dances) in a tabular form for easy cross-comparison. This concordance is based on Wilson's transcription, which corrects some errors in Cunningham's work.

CD: Dances from the Inns of Court. by Jouissance Includes the eight dances of the Old Measures (Quadran Pavan, Tinternell, Earl of Essex, Turkelone, Old Alman, Queen's Alman, Madam Sosilia, and Black Alman) plus Lorayne Alman and New Alman. Has two recordings of each dance. One version has four repeats (the amount we've found to be most useful for everyday use for SCA dancers), and one with the number of repeats recommended in the period sources (typically only one or two times through the dance) Uses period instruments: recorders, shawm, vielle, harp, and hurdy gurdy. All pieces have the right repeat structure to match the choreographies, and are all a nice danceable rhythm as well as pleasing to listen to.

These items can be ordered for $11.00 (includes CD, booklet, and US postage). See http://dance.peterdur.com for details.

Review

Janelyn writes:

> Now available: a CD of music for Dances from the Inns of Court, and a
> companion booklet with historical data, reconstruction notes, and dance
> reconstructions.

Two words: Get This.

I took Trahaearn and Janelyn's Inns of Court class at KWDS, and it was a real delight; I know more about the subject than most (having dug into it a bit myself) and I still learned a good deal from it.

The booklet is reasonably concise and exceptionally clear, giving the basic background for the dances, as well as the dances themselves spelt out clearly, with all the primary sources, reconstruction notes, and melody lines -- it's a model for what reconstructions *should* look like. The CD is pretty to listen to, eminently danceable, and manages to give each dance a distinct mood (so that dancing the entire Old Measures suite isn't as dull as it might otherwise be). And it's a *great* value. A definite winner, which went straight into my small case of The 12 Most Useful Dance CDs.

A worthy successor to Practice/Musicke for Dauncinge (now pretty much unobtainable). Well worth obtaining, especially for newer dancemasters who are seeking really easy material to work with...

-- Justin

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